Team India has entered the final of the Nidahas Trophy 2018 after beating Bangladesh by 17 runs in Colombo on Wednesday. With this win, India has now recorded seven wins in seven T20Is against Bangladesh. Put into bat India posted 176/3 in 20 overs. In reply, the Tigers could only manage 159/6. A lot of credit for that goes to the young Washington Sundar.

Bangladesh put up a fighting effort against India at the R Premadasa Stadium and captain  Mahmudullah rued the lack of partnerships at the top of the innings as they chased 177 for a win under lights. He said, “The effort was there. A bit disappointed though; had someone stood up and made 20-30 quick runs it could have made a difference with Mushy. The chase was on, we needed a good flying start. But we lost wickets early and didn’t get the momentum we needed.”

Also read: Stats Review: Nidahas Trophy (Ind vs Ban 5th T20I) 

Mahmudullah further added, “We also could have conceded 10 lesser runs and that could have made the difference. The plan was to take the pace off the ball and stick to your strengths as a bowler, but they didn’t execute that well. Looking forward to the next game, the good thing is that we have a chance to prove ourselves and we need to do it.”

Chasing 177 on a wicket that was slowing down and taking a slight turn was never going to be easy for the Tigers, but former skipper Mushfiqur Rahim refused to give up without a fight and managed to hit an unbeaten 72 to take Bangladesh to 159/6 in their 20 overs. In fact, while Washington was the star with the ball, Shardul Thakur deserves credit for giving away just 5 runs in eth penultimate over. With 33 needed off the last 2 and Mushfiqur still at the crease, a good over could have very much kept Bangladesh in the hunt.

Also read: Rohit Sharma Credits Washington Sundar For The Victory

But before that, the damage was done up early when Washington picked up three scalps in his first three overs. While he picked Liton Das (7) in his first over — Dinesh Karthik’s 50th stumping — Washington returned to clean up Soumya Sarkar for 1. But his biggest wicket came in the third over when he sent back the dangerous looking Tamim Iqbal for 27 off just 19 balls.